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halting curent

0

I had to do a quick set up for two betta's that I "rescued" from a coworker. Everything is fine, its a diveded 10 gallon. I have two filters going but one side seems to have just a little too much current. I don't want to go out and buy different filters so i was thinking of putting some duckweed in the tank to obstruct the current. Has anyone done this and will it work?

Duckweed is way too small to halt any current. It usually gets pushed around and submerged, when in the way of outflow. I would suggest frogbit for a floating plant. It's much more sturdy, but also gets out of control (like duckweed, but bigger - with much longer roots).

If you have a HOB filter, try adding some filter floss to the outlet. That'll definitely slow it up.

It is dropping water onto service in a sheet, there is no control either :(. I will look into the spraybar and the filter floss. I went to the local pet store for advice on plants before I read this, they sold me some guppy grass .. the only word that comes to mind is WORTHLESS!! it is going into my other tank now and the search continues, I will check out the frogbit and see if it will suit my 10g tank ( divided into two 5 gallons)

If you take your time to do the research FIRST, you can successfully set-up and keep ANY type of aquarium with ease."Not using a quarantine tank is like playing Russian roulette. Nobody wins the game, some people just get to play longer than others." - Anthony CalfoFishless CycleCycling with FishMarine Aquarium Info [URL="http://saltwater.aquaticcommunity.com/"]

Ctallant, Frogbit would work, but unless you keep on top of pruning, it's probably going to get out of hand. Something else to consider might be planting a sword plant in front of the outlet. That'll slow up the flow, as well, and won't be intrusive.

Okay so here is my solution that I think is working well. I took the filter cloth from an unused ( POS) filter I had bought previously and emptied out all the charcoal and rinsed thoroughly. I loosely rolled a small piece of the cotton sponge and placed just above the intake inside the tank. It did the trick, there is still a light flow of water but it creates next to no current. I placed some of the guppy grass in front of it an showed little to no movement and the betta is swimming freely about. It will be easy to adjust if needed also. Ingenuity at its finest ( I hope) I have the tank divided with an piece of an underground filter panel and the guppy grass ( for the time being). Both males seem to be quite happy.

Unless it's frogbit or water sprite. They're both fairly strong - the water sprite produces thick foliage, while the frogbit has a pretty darn complex root & propagation system. In fact, I've got a frog that lives in my backyard that utilizes my two tubs of both... and each plant can sustain its weight. I used to have water sprite in my 75gal, which blocked much of the flow from my spray bar and allowed my RRFs to grow in and cover the canopy. I have frogbit in 3 tanks, which break water flow very well.

RRFs and duckweed won't do anything, though - they're too fragile and small.

@ctallant, good call. I did that in a couple of my tanks, too, and it worked really well.